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Raymond Robins 

Chairmafi of the Progressive National Convention 
To the Progressives of the Country 



"For myself, I gladly enlist with the great 
majority of the Progressives of the nation under the 
leadership of CHARLES EVANS HUGHES." 



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To My Fellow Progressives : 

For some years prior to 1912 in common Math other progressive 
citizens, I had hoped for a new cleavage in American political life — 
a cleavage that would bury the dead issues of 1860, wipe out sec- 
tional lines and prejudices — and comprehending the vital social and 
economic issues of the twentieth century, would divide American 
political parties along true lines of honest progressive and honest 
conservative sentiment. When Colonel Roosevelt voiced this need 
and desire and declared himself as willing to serve in realizing a 
genuine progressive and liberal party, I in common with over four 
million voters responded to his call. 

In our first campaign while the actual vote was an extraordinary 
testimony to Colonel Roosevelt's personal popularity, we elected no 
single Progressive governor, noi' legislature, nor sufficient members 
to be even a balance of power in Congress. This however was no 
discouragement to those Progressives who did not seek office and 
were ready to fight on through any number of defeats to gain a genu- 
ine victory. In 1914 we had a real test of the Progressive voters of 
1912 and the willingness of the American people to use a new party 
in the practical solution of the problems of our political life. Gen- 
erally throughout the nation the Progressive candidates — embracing 
its most gifted leaders and all generously supported by Colonel Roose- 
velt and as a rule fairly treated by the daily press — ran a bad third. 
Nearly three-fourths of the Progressive voters of 1912 refused to sup- 
port the Progressive candidates in 1914. Moreover the acid test 
of the party loyalty of the voter is not found in his support of party 
candidates in a general election, but in his willingness to enroll or 
register in the primaries of his party. By this test throughout the 
union the Progressive voters of 1912 declared in overwhelming ma- 
jority that they regarded the Progressive candidates as the repre- 
sentatives of a protest and not a party — of a mere revolt rather than 
a permanent political cleavage. 

Under our system of government the voters are at last supreme. 
No gifts of leadership nor merit of program can finally drive the 
American people into a party against their will. In the 1914 and 
1916 primaries the Progressive voters of 1912 deliberately and in 
overwhelming numbers abandoned the Progressive Party. 

The efforts of Colonel Roosevelt's friends to secure his nomination 
by both the Republican and Progressive conventions was a mere rec- 
ognition of this fact. Colonel Roosevelt's declination to run as the 
Progressive candidate only, simply declared his acceptance of the 
verdict of the voters as delivered by them in the primaries of 1914 
and 1916. The refusal of the Progressive National Committee to 
favor a third ticket candidacy did no more than to make final the 
judgment entered by the Progressive voters themselves. 

While I had hoped against hope that the extraordinary events in 
this epochal hour might over-rule the verdict of the voters, and under 
Uhe leadership of Colonel Roosevelt the Progressive Party might yet 



j\ 



dominate the situation, nevertheless, when the Progressive Conven- 
tion had adjourned and the entire situation was considered — it was 
manifest that the end which the voters had decreed had come — that 
the Progressive Party was dead. The Progressive movement and 
revolt of 1912 having failed as a permanent political party, and the 
verdict of the voters having been rendered in favor of the Democratic 
and Republican parties as the instruments of their organized politi- 
cal action ; what is the present duty of the men and women who were 
loyal to the Progressive Party and who believe in Progressive prin- 
ciples? In which of these dominant parties in the long run will 
Progressive principles find most effective support, and where will 
the rank and file and leadership of the Progressive Party find largest 
co-operation in the service of our common country? While this ques- 
tion must at last be settled in the individual mind and heart, we are 
grateful for honest counsel one with another. 

Which Party Holds the Better Hope? 

For myself, I cannot determine this question by the merit of can- 
didates and platforms alone. Platforms change with each campaign 
and leaders come and go. Should we not consider that drift of opin- 
ion — almost glacial in slowness and certainty — whereby the perma- 
nent voting mass in each party inevitably determines the topography 
of our political world? Is there not a main current underneath the 
changing surface eddies, a purpose and tendency of the rank and 
file voters in the one party as opposed to the other, that abides? If 
so, which party through such mass drift, such tendency of its perma- 
nent rank and file, holds the better hope for Progressive principles 
in the solution of our domestic problems and international policy? 
The answer to this question is twofold, first the character and en- 
vironment of the primary voter mass control, and second the perma- 
nent achievements of its leadership. 

The primary voter mass control of the Democratic Party is in 
fifteen southern and southwestern states and in the industrial cities 
of the nation. The fixed southern control of the Democratic Party 
is individualistic in its thinking, sectional in its sympathies and in- 
herits a tradition against common labor as servile. The social organi- 
zation is still semi-patriarchal in the rural connnunities and the south- 
ern environment presents the maximum of natural and cultural re- 
sistance to necessary social and industrial standardization. The Dem- 
ocratic primary voter mass control in the industrial cities is the most 
heterogeneous of our national groups and the excessive pressure of 
living and industrial conditions renders it the most fertile field for 
boss control in the service of selfish personal and corporate interests. 

The primary voter mass control of the Eepul)lican Party is in the 
rural communities of the central, western and New England states. 
This group represents the highest literacy in America, is freest from 
severe social and economic pressure, is in the zone of the greatest 
natural tendency to industrial standardization and equality of op- 
portnnity, and inlici'ils llic li-adilion o\' l.incoln ;md llie men who saved 
the union. 

Tlie ]\('i)nb]ican Party — tliough often dominated by the masters 
of special pi-iviiege and nmde by them the instrument of vast ex- 
ploitation — has a rank and file of men and women who have proved 



their capacity to reject false or dishonest leadership. Conceived in 
moral revolt against human slavery, it was born, baptized and nur- 
tured in the supreme national struggle to maintain the national her- 
itage and fulfill the promise of equal opportunity to every citizen. 
Is not its rank and file best calculated to support a leadership that 
will create a national mind and conscience, and having preserved the 
integrity of the nation against the heresy of secession, will it not de- 
velop and maintain a progressive national program of social and eco- 
nomic organization ? 

Test of Republican Achievement 

Let us now turn to the test of actual achievements in progressive 
legislation and administration. The freest and most progressive 
state in this union is California. Eight years ago it was a rotten 
borough and had been under shameless and corrupt corporation and 
boss control for a generation. Twenty years ago able and honest 
progressive Democrats were fighting in that state for reform. They 
led in the education of the people but the rank and file of the Demo- 
cratic Party refused to follow their leadership. How was the actual 
deliverance of California achieved? By the rank and file of the Re- 
publican voters under the leadership of Hiram AV. Johnson. The 
second freest state in this union is Wisconsin. Twenty years ago the 
brewery ring of Milwaukee and the railroad ring of Madison con- 
trolled that state. Which party redeemed AVisconsin? The rank 
and file of the Republican Party under the leadership of Robert M. 
LaFollette. After long years of shameless corruption and misgov- 
ernment Pennsylvania has made a notable advance toward decent 
government and progressive policies in the last two years. Here 
again the rank and file of the Republican voters under the leadership 
of Governor Brumbaugh is breaking boss control of government in 
the Keystone State. When New Hampshire broke the bonds of her 
railroad ring how was that victory won? Through Robert P. Bass 
and Winston Churchill supported by the rank and file of the Repub- 
lican Party. 

My home state of Illinois is an illuminating example of the gen- 
eral experience. We have had able progressive Democratic leader- 
ship and within the past decade have won both the city and the state 
governments. Yet permanent gains for progressive principles have 
been practically nil. A fatal incapacity for efficient administration 
or fundamental progressive legislation seems to rest upon the Demo- 
cratic Party in Illinois. After sixteen years, during twelve of which 
I served with the Progressive Democrats, the Democratic Party is 
more completely under the control of a corporation boss who repre- 
sents the worst in our political system than at any other time in 
twenty years. The present administration at Washington has helped 
rather than hindered the growth of this boss control of the Demo- 
cratic Party in Illinois. The progressive Democrats of Illinois are 
a heartsick minority. The progressive Republicans are a militant 
and — properly organized — will be a triumphant majority. The final 
regeneration of the government of this state will have to be won by 
the leadership of progressives in the Republican Party supported by 
its rank and file. 

When the hour came to break the control of the corrupt plutocracy 



and the bosses over the national government, again it was the rank 
and file of the progressive Republican voters that sustained the lead- 
ership in the White House and Congress which laid the foundation 
of effective progressive opinion and finally culminated in the revolt 
of 1912. It was the fear of this progressive spirit that nominated 
Mr. Wilson over the choice of the Democratic rank and file in the 
Baltimore convention; that maintained President Wilson's control 
over Congress ; that dictated the progressive planks in the Democratic 
platform in St. Louis and nominated ]\Ir. Hughes in the Republican 
Convention at Chicago. It was progressive Republicans that fur- 
nished 95 per cent, of the leadership and 80 per cent, of the voters for 
the Progressive candidates in 1912. 

Nationalism versus Sectionalism the Issue 

The national conscience now aroused must be made effective. It 
must develop a national mind that will comprehend our social, indus- 
trial and military unpreparedness. It must appreciate the domestic 
injury and national danger that lies in our lack of a definite foreign 
policy. It must realize that we will be as unprepared for peace as 
we are imprepared for war. The supreme need in American political 
life is leadership supported by a voting rank and file that will organize 
and maintain an adequate, social, industrial and military prepared- 
ness, together with a comprehensive foreign policy. 

The first step in social preparedness is woman suffrage to 
protect our children and homes from the incompetence, corrup- 
tion and vice of our municipal housekeeping. 

We need industrial preparedness with a program of stand- 
ardization in our economic life. For the workers, we need liv- 
ing wages, fair hours of labor, workshop sanitation and fire pro- 
tection, with accident, sickness, old age and unemployment in- 
surance. Trade agreements and arbitration should take the place 
of individual exploitation and industrial civil war. For capital, 
we need the intelligent co-operation of government both at home 
and abroad. When this war is over Ave Avill face the most in- 
tense industrial competition that the world of commerce has 
ever known. A comprehensive jorotection of the home market 
and support for American foreign trade is indispensable if we 
are to preserve industrial prosperity. For both capital and labor, 
we should develop a progressive policy in taxation that will lift 
the fiscal burdens of government from la])or and enterprise and 
place them upon monopoly and privilege. (Graduated progres- 
sive taxation upon incomes, inheritances and land values must 
be a part of any adequate preparedness program. 

We need universal service and military training of the youth 
of America. This will do more in one generation to break down 
class and sectional prejudice, develop disciplined, vigorous and 
efficient citizenship, and to unify the diverse groups of our na- 
tional life in a vital Americanism than all other forces combiiu^d. 
It Avill destroy militarism and the military caste, while providing 
that genuine! preparedness for efficiency in time of peace and 
defense against aggression in time of Avar Avhich is needed in 
evoi'y citizenship. This is the policy of the labor government of 



Australia and the democratic people's government in Switzer- 
land and is worthy of the vigorous support of every informed 
progressive in America. 

We need a comprehensive foreign policy that will accept the 
facts of the world situation and our obligations under the Mon- 
roe Doctrine ; the open door in China ; and the Exclusion Acts ; 
and prepare adequately to maintain our right part in the world 
movement, advancing the democratic purpose and human inter- 
ests in the international field as against the domination of privi- 
lege, autocracy and militarism. 

Can these imperative national needs be worked out by a states' 
rights Democratic Party that plans a state dominated militia Avith its 
tendency to shiftless incompetence, spoils politics and organized snob- 
bery as a national defense force, at a time of world peril? More and 
more it becomes plain that most of our pressing problems of large 
import are national in scope and will yield only to national action. 
Yet we find in the Democratic Party the modern, and let us hope the 
last, stronghold of the advocates of local sovereignty. This doctrine 
of individualism, sectionalism and disunion menaced and almost pre- 
vented the freeing of the colonies from foreign dominion. This doc- 
trine well nigh defeated the adoption of a unifying constitution 
wherein the American nation became a fact. This doctrine after 
sixty years almost overthrew the national structure in dissension over 
the issue of slavery. This doctrine since the Civil War has delayed 
national legislation so urgently needed to solve the problems of pure 
food, transportation, child labor and conservation. Wherever the 
fight for more efficient and more humane government has been waged 
this baneful doctrine of States' Eights has been invoked to rally and 
shelter the anti-social forces, to arouse sectional bias, local jealousy 
and all the mean, narrow passions that hold men's eyes upon the 
ground, when great human needs call upon them to look beyond the 
rough and dusty roads to the far country that is Avorth the toil and 
sacrifice of the long, hard journey. 

Can a Progressive Hesitate Long? 

Comprehending our national necessities, how can a Progressive 
hesitate long to choose between the party of nationalism and the 
party of sectionalism? Should not wise and sincere Progressives go 
en masse into the Republican primaries, and fighting shoulder to 
shoulder wdth progressive Republicans, help and be helped in our 
common struggle for social and industrial justice in city, state and 
nation? If this is generally done the common bonds of our fellow- 
ship for the past four years will not be broken but rather augmented, 
and we can continue to work together and bring back a chastened 
Republican Party to its ancient faith in human rights and national 
integrity, which made its triumph under Lincoln's leadership the su- 
preme achievement of the Democratic spirit in the history of mankind. 

The present leader of the Republican Pgrty won his reputation 
as the progressive Republican Governor of New York. He there 
proved himself completely independent of all boss control and dem- 
onstrated that he Avill take advice from many but dictation from none; 
His words have been made good by deeds. His leadership is the fruit 



of the Progressive movement in American politics. His nomination 
was not two hours old when the most resourceful general of the ''old 
guard" was dropped overboard into political oblivion. The forced 
retirement of William Barnes, Jr., was the "high sign" to all who 
wish to know and understand that the control of the Eepublican 
Party had passed forever from the "old guard" of 1912. Mr. 
Hughes's recognition of the Progressives in the appointment of his 
campaign committee is a guarantee of the good faith in which he 
appeals for Progressive support. 

LaFoUette 's Endorsement 

This estimate of the progressive character of the Eepublican nomi- 
nee does not rest upon the testimony alone of his record and his asso- 
ciates. From a statement over the signature of one of the ablest of 
the progressive leaders in this nation I quote as follows : 

"The nomination of Mr. Justice Hughes will be acceptable to the 
great body of progressive Republicans in this country. . . . He was 
not the choice of the reactionary element which formed the platform 
and otherwise controlled the convention. . . . He is able, independ- 
ent, fearless, and possessed of high public spirit. There is no question 
of his personal and political integrit}^ he will go as far as his con- 
victions carry him and no ulterior influence can stop him." 

Robert M. LaFollette. 

We Progressives stand at the crossroads. American social, indus- 
trial and political life has broken down under the old individualistic 
control. A new national mind and conscience developing social unity, 
industrial standardization, efficient political honesty; from a self- 
controlled democracy— this is the goal of our generation in American 
life. I believe in the character and courage of the nominee of the 
Republican Party. He is the most conspicuous example in our his- 
tory of the possibilities that American politics may hold for success in 
able and unselfish public service. For myself, T gladly enlist Avith the 
great majority of the Progressives of the nation under the leadership 
of CHARLES EVANS HUGHES. 

Raymond Robins. 



